A bit of an odd request, I'm sure, but maybe someone's seen these. It's a campaign started by Thierry Henri and other players in conjunction with Nike to stamp out racism in soccer. Complete with their own wristbands:

So here's the question. Any chance anyone living in a country where they're selling these could buy me one? They aren't selling them in the US and I want to make sure the money goes to the right place (ergo, not eBay, where they're selling for about... uhm, I think £10).

You wanted the best, you got... Out of Context Quote of the Week.

"Jeez, some people seem to think anything short of Vince bending over and spreading his asscheeks is a slap in the face." (Hogan's My Dad)

The main store's in North Bergen, NJ and they have a NYC location (East Village) also.

They always have a ton of import items that can't be found anywhere else (I bought Maradona's autobiography in Spanish there).

"Well, you can't involve friendship with business. It has to be one or the other. It's either business or friendship, or hit the bricks!"--Life Lessons from "The Tao of Bobby the Brain Heenan" Uncensored 2000 preview

I saw this ad on the Fox Soccer Channel last night, and saw that they had a website for it, which was standupspeakup.com. I went to the site tonight, and there are only available (or so the site says) from Nike stores across Europe.

Originally posted by standupspeakup.com THE WRISTBANDS ARE AVAILABLE AT NIKE TOWNS OR NIKE STORES, PLUS SELECTED SPORTS RETAILERS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. UNFORTUNATELY THEY ARE NOT AVAILABLE IN EVERY COUNTRY, AND CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE AT ALL OUTSIDE EUROPE. WE ARE AWARE THAT DEMAND FOR THE BAND IS VERY HIGH, AND WE ARE WORKING HARD TO MAKE MORE AVAILABLE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THE BANDS ARE ONLY AVAILABLE AT THE RETAIL STORES LISTED. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT ANY BANDS SOLD ONLINE (E.G. THROUGH EBAY) ARE BEING SOLD FOR PERSONAL PROFIT AND NO MONEY FROM THAT SALE WILL GO TO THE ORGANIZATIONS WORKING AGAINST RACISM IN FOOTBALL ACROSS EUROPE.

I'm going to London on Saturday for a week for a vacation (I haven't ever been before), so I'll try and stop by a Nike store and see if they have them.

Protesting racist behavior. F'rinstance, a ref in (I believe) Spain's top league had to call a match early due to racist chants (obviously, no one elaborated on this). Also, Luis Aragones (Spain's national coach) got fined €3000 (or just a hair under $4,000 USD) for " using racially-motivated language (soccerway.com) to speak to Jose-Antonio Reyes about his Arsenal team mate Thierry Henry." Which is basically a complete joke... as I understand it, he should've been fined at least ten times that amount, if not had his coaching license yanked. Henry called the fine "laughable".

You wanted the best, you got... Out of Context Quote of the Week.

"Jeez, some people seem to think anything short of Vince bending over and spreading his asscheeks is a slap in the face." (Hogan's My Dad)

Originally posted by BigDaddyLocoI'm not sure I get what these wristbands are suppossed to be saying to the world. What do you mean by racism in soccer? I'm not sure how else to phrase the question without stepping on my tounge here.

Basically, crowds chant. In Spain and Italy, mostly white audiences "bark" when a black player has the ball, or they do "monkey" chants. You hear it on the Premier League PPVs all the time. Occasionally, coaches get involved, because usually the coaches are from the country where the team is based, but often the players are not. You probably know David Beckham, an Englishman (and Cauc) plays for a Spanish team. I believe Birmingham (england) starts an all black team, some of whom are not english.

This kind of crap has been going on in football for many years and used to be terrible in Germany, but it isn't as bad as it is. I think the Speak Up Stand up campaign is trying to unite the players and as many of the fans as possible against this.

(By the way, Dr. Jay - I poked around in Toronto looking for these for you - no go. They know about them, but nobody had any.)

Valuev won by TKO in the 11th, really only looking good for about a round and a half, albeit in the 10th and 11th when he could finally work a jab, which stopped Barrett in his tracks every time he used it properly.